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Programme MSc International Marketing

Marketing Project
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Student Reference Number (SRN) BP0169614

The use of social media marketing to acquire and

retain customers to brands of small companies: A
Report/Assignment Title study on House of CB

Date of Submission
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any extension received) 28/08/2018

Declaration of Original Work:

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The word count, excluding contents table, bibliography and appendices, is 9691 words.

Student Reference Number: BP0169614 Date: 28/08/18

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BPP Business School

THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING TO ACQUIRE AND
RETAIN CUSTOMERS TO BRANDS
OF SMALL COMPANIES
A study on House of CB

BPP Business School

MSc International Marketing

1
Acknowledgments

Thank you to my lecturers on the whole MSc International Marketing course, you
have made this masters enjoyable and a great learning experience. I have learnt
valuable information that I can carry with me for professional use. Thank you to my
Marketing Project supervisors, Felicia Tick and John Kouraklis for your guidance.
Thank you to my classmates, you are no longer “classmates”, we are friends for a
lifetime, it has been a pleasure working with you and learning from you.

A special thank you to my husband Amen Alonge. Thank you for supporting me
throughout my master’s degree but especially during this dissertation. I will never
forget it.

I could not have done this without the support from all of you.

Thank you.

2
“Marketing is everything and everything is marketing.”

(McKenna 1991, p. 68)

3
Executive Summary

Social media has become one of the most powerful tools being used in today’s social
media driven environment. As a result, it is an essential tool to be used in marketing
and small businesses need to recognise the importance of social media marketing and
adopt this in their marketing strategy. However, small businesses do not have the
resources to invest in this strategy. The purpose of this study is to understand how a
small business with a very little budget can grow in a few years with the use of social
media. The research aims to understand the marketing strategy adopted by the owner-
manager and therefore be able to be used by other small businesses. The research is
compiled of interviews with the owner-manager, market research of the customers, a
case study of the company which is then analysed to provide a comprehensive
argument and recommendations. The study concludes that in order for a small
business to acquire customers and retain them social media marketing is vital. The
strategies used involve, building brand awareness through online competitions,
informative content, celebrity relationships, networking and working with other brands
for brand exposure. After acquiring customers and retaining them, small businesses
can look to change their marketing strategy to fit the company’s needs.

4
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 7
2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 9
2.1 CUSTOMER ACQUISITION................................................................................. 9
2.2 CUSTOMER RETENTION................................................................................... 9
2.3 MARKETING ................................................................................................. 10
2.4 MARKETING MIX ........................................................................................... 11
2.5 SMALL BUSINESSES ...................................................................................... 12
2.6 MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL AGE..................................................................... 13
2.7 SOCIAL MEDIA .............................................................................................. 14
2.8 APPLIED TO SMALL BUSINESSES ................................................................... 18
2.9 CELEBRITY CULTURE.................................................................................... 18
3 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................... 20
4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 21
4.1 CASE STUDY METHOD ................................................................................... 21
4.2 SAMPLING ................................................................................................... 22
4.3 INTERVIEW................................................................................................... 22
4.4 QUESTIONNAIRES......................................................................................... 24
4.5 EXCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 24
4.6 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................ 24
5 FINDINGS......................................................................................................... 25
5.1 CASE STUDY: BACKGROUND OF BUSINESS...................................................... 25
5.2 QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS FOR HOUSE OF CB STORE CUSTOMERS ................... 29
5.2.1 Question 3: Do you use social media? ................................................... 29
5.2.2 Question 6: Which social media platforms do you use most? ................ 29
5.2.3 Question 7: Which social media platform influences your purchase
decision, if any? ................................................................................................ 30
5.2.4 Question 8: Where did you first hear about House of CB?..................... 30
5.2.5 Question 12: Has one of these celebrities well known to be associated
with House of CB ever influenced you in making a purchase? Celebrities: Kylie
Jenner, The Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé................................... 31
5.2.6 Question 13: Which option influences your purchase decision more? ... 32
5.2.7 Question 8: Do you follow any brands on social media? If yes, list up to 3.
32
5.2.8 Question 9: If one of your listed brands is not House Of CB, do you follow
them on social media? ...................................................................................... 32
5.3 QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS FROM ONLINE PARTICIPANTS ................................... 34
5.3.1 Question 3: Do you use social media? ................................................... 34
5.3.2 Question 5: Which social media platforms do you use most? ................ 34
5.3.3 Question 6: Which social media platform influences your purchase
decision, if any? ................................................................................................ 35
5.3.4 Question: Do you know House of CB? ................................................... 35
5.3.5 Question: Where did you first hear about House of CB?........................ 36
5.3.6 Question: Have celebrities influenced your purchase decision at House of
CB? 37
5.3.7 Question: Which option influences your purchases more? .................... 37

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 5.4 INTERVIEWS RESULTS ................................................................................... 39
5.4.1 Question: Outside of just emailing the customers that you already had off
of eBay, how did you go about attracting people to your designs and your
dresses when you first got started? .................................................................. 39
5.4.2 Question: So did you set up a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account
at the time? Was Instagram around at the time? .............................................. 39
5.4.3 Question: Did you have to identify your customers in order to connect
with them, or were they your ideal customers anyway? .................................... 39
5.4.4 Question: Has your perception of social media changed? ..................... 40
5.4.5 Question: So essentially are your customers on social media, helping to
drive and mould where you’re taking the brand? .............................................. 40
5.4.6 Question: How do you think social media has played a role in your
success? ........................................................................................................... 41
5.4.7 Question: What does that do for business when celebs wear your stuff?
41
6 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................ 42
7 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 46
8 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................... 48
9 REFLECTIVE STATEMENT............................................................................. 49
10 CONTEXTUALISATION STATEMENT ............................................................ 50
11 LINK TO VIDEO SUBMISSION ........................................................................ 51
12 APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 52
12.1 APPENDIX A: TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW 1 .................................................... 52
12.2 APPENDIX B: TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW 2 .................................................... 60
12.3 APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOUSE OF CB CUSTOMERS IN-STORE......... 65
12.4 APPENDIX D: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ONLINE..................................................... 69
12.5 APPENDIX E: CONSENT FORM FOR QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONDENTS .................. 74
APPENDIX F: CELEBRITY POSTS BY HOUSE OF CB ..................................................... 75
12.6 APPENDIX G: CASE STUDY RESULTS – SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS ....................... 81
13 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 83

6
1 Introduction

This chapter provides a brief overview of the study presented in this dissertation and
prepares the reader for the literature review in Chapter 2. The topic of the study is to
understand the use of social media marketing to attract customers of small companies.
In order to reach a conclusion, research was conducted on one particular London
based small fashion company – House of CB. The study aims to pursue an
understanding of how this small company that started online has used social media to
acquire customers as well as retain them.

With technology advancing and the Internet developing, the business environment has
become dependent on digital media, with social media being a central component of
that. As a result, it is imperative that small companies understand the importance of
social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Most
small companies may not have a strategy when it comes to social media marketing,
but due to inherently having a smaller budget than large companies they may not have
the resources to invest in social media marketing. The research presents a small
company that has used social media marketing from the start of their business and
explains the marketing strategy they have used to be successful.

The research into House of CB’s social media marketing strategy was conducted
through the use of questionnaires to their customers and a wider audience online.
Also, secondary research of previous interviews with the business owner-manager is
presented in this study and analysed for further understanding. House of CB’s social
media marketing strategy has seen the company excel in growth and become widely
recognised in its field. Also, and very importantly, the social media marketing strategy
helped get the attention of celebrities who now help grow the brand.

The research reveals how companies should adapt to their marketing to the ever-
evolving social media environment. Social media is constantly changing, and different
platforms work best for certain businesses. For House of CB, although they first started
on Facebook and Twitter the research indicates that they both are not their most
popular platform. Instagram is their most popular and they focus mainly on this
platform which can be seen from the difference of followers between Instagram and
others.

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The paper begins with a background into the research with a literature review which
leads to the research aims and objectives. Follows next is the methodology of the
research which also provides a background into the chosen company. The findings
chapter presents the relevant research data in graphs with a brief description. The
findings are then analysed and discussed further to be able to draw conclusions.
Finally, the recommendations are presented. There is also a reflective and
contextualisation statement and a link to a presentation about the research.

8
2 Literature review

This chapter provides the background of the research which will help build the premise
of the research. The background will inform the researcher the direction of the
research and help clarify the research objectives which follows after this chapter.

2.1 Customer acquisition

Since the 90s, there has been a lot of widely recognised research done on the
relationship between businesses and their customers (Berry, 1995; Morgan & Hunt,
1994; Reinartz & Kumar, 2002; Villanueva, Yoo & Hanssens, 2008). Based on the
research, a committed relationship is developed from the start of the customer
acquisition process. For firms in competitive growth markets, the handling of the
customer acquisition process is even more important (Villanueva et al., 2008). “For
such firms, acquisition spending is the most important expense in the marketing
budget’’ (Villanueva et al., 2008, p. 48).

Given this importance, customer acquisition is an integral subject in marketing science

(Reinartz, Thomas & Kumar, 2005; Thomas, 2001; Villanueva et al., 2008). Following
Thomas (2001), “the customer acquisition process is part of the customer-firm
relationship that begins with the consumers' first interaction with the firm and proceeds
through the first purchase until the first repeat purchase’’ (p. 262). Customer
acquisition is integral to every successful business, but the process can be very
difficult for large to small businesses.

2.2 Customer retention

Reichheld's (1996) premise relies on the assumption that loyal employees and loyal
investors engender loyal customers. Also, that customers will only remain if the
business provides a good value proposition. Hence, there is special significance on
retaining loyal customers, employees and investors. For the service marketing
industry, customer retention is achieved by improving or sustaining top customer
service quality and satisfaction (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991; Zeithaml and
Bitner,1996, p.176).

9
2.3 Marketing

The idea of marketing became popular in the late nineteenth century. During this initial
period, marketing was regarded as a term used to explain commercial buying and
selling of products or services. However, the notion of marketing has changed over
the years, and in the early twentieth century the study of marketing as an academic
field emerged. Theorists Kotler and Keller state that marketing is “identifying and
meeting human and social needs”, suggesting that marketing is the meeting point of
need and profitability (Kotler & Keller 2012, 5).

This is also clearly evident from American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of
marketing. In 2004, AMA defined marketing as “an organizational function and a set
of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its
stakeholders” (American Marketing Association, 2004). In 2013 however, the definition
evolved to “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners,
and society at large”. (Ferrell & Hartline 2011, 7; American Marketing Association
2013).

AMA new definition of marketing emphasises the value of customers and product
value, which corresponds with the understanding that, customer satisfaction can be
achieved through means other than purchasing high quality products at low prices.
Some theorists concluded that the former definition focused heavily on the transaction
in the purchase-decision-making, whereas the new definition stresses long-lasting
relationships which are profitable for customers and the company (Ferrell & Hartline
2011, 8.)

Currently, marketing is agreed to be both selling a product and fulfilling the needs of
customers. The concept of marketing is used by companies to create value and build
relationships with customers in order to receive value from them. Marketing is
connected to a way of life, not only in the sense of utilization, but also on the wellbeing
of a society in general. (Kotler & Armstrong 2014, 28; Ferrell & Hartline 2011, 8.)

10
Figure 1. Marketing process defined (Kotler & Armstrong 2014, 50).

Figure 1 is based on Kotler and Armstrong (2014) definition of the process of

marketing. The process illustrates that when companies create value for customers,
they build relationships and create value for the business in return. According to the
process, companies must first understand the marketplace, which will reveal the
needs and wants of customers. This allows companies to create a marketing strategy
to help build relationships with their customers and fulfil their needs. Every step
creates value for customers. However, the final step is the objective for all successful
companies, as it not only ensures a profit for the company but also satisfied customers
from capturing value (Kotler & Armstrong 2014, 28). Succinctly, the process states
that companies must first understand their target market before they can then create
a successful marketing strategy.

2.4 Marketing mix

Within the business environment there have been several significant changes to
marketing strategies. Neil Borden (1953) instigated the first of these significant

11
changes when he introduced the term ‘marketing mix’ in a speech at the American
Marketing Association. A decade later, Jerome McCarthy (1964) expanded on the
term when he defined the 4p’s marketing mix as a grouping of the factors which can
be used to ensure satisfaction within companies target market. McCarthy explains that
the marketing mix is composed of: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

The Digital age has led to the adaptation of these marketing strategies to reach
digitally connected customers. Also, the strategies have advanced to prioritise the
customer’s needs and wants. This is where the 4p’s evolve into 4c’s and 4e’s. Figure
2. below explains this new framework where there is more of an emphasis on the
customer and the journey they will take with the company.

Figure 2. McCarthy (1960), Lauterborn (1990), and Fetherstonhaugh (mid 2000’s).

Demonstrates how the 4C’s reframes the original “P” metrics to be more applicable
and customer-centric.

2.5 Small businesses

There is no universally agreed-on definition of a small business or small to medium

sized enterprise (SME), and much effort has been made to define the term using
criteria such as number of employees, sales volume, and value of assets. Most
academic literature adopts the European Commission definition of SME, which states

12
that an SME is any business with fewer than 250 employees, (Gilmore et al., 1999).
For the purposes of this study, this definition will be the definition of small businesses.
There were 5.2 million SMEs in the UK in 2014, which was over 99% of all business
(European Commission, 2014). Micro-businesses are business with 0-9 employees
as defined by the European Commission. There were 5.0 million micro-businesses in
the UK in 2014, accounting for 96% of all businesses. The vast majority of businesses
in the UK employ fewer than 10 people, but these businesses only account for 33% of
employment and 19% of turnover. Large businesses accounted for less than 0.1% of
businesses, but 40% of employment and 53% of turnover.

Marketing is a crucial activity for the survival and success of any business.

2.6 Marketing in the digital age

The Internet is ever changing and has helped transform marketing and business.
People all around the world regularly use the Internet to find products, entertainment
and connect with friends. This has led to consumer behaviour changing, and,
consequently, the way companies’ market to consumers has drastically changed.

Businesses today have more marketing opportunities than ever (Bresciani & Eppler,
2010). In the case of small businesses, marketing relies heavily on word of mouth
recommendations for customer acquisition (Stokes & Lomax, 2002). The
advancement of technology and the Internet, in particular ease of word of mouth
recommendations and relationship building, favours the characteristics of the small
business (Walsh & Lipinski, 2009).

With the advancement of the Internet and technology, social media was introduced.
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) describe social media as “a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,
and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Web 2.0
technologies on the Social Web permit two-way conversations with consumers
enabling brands to listen to consumers and respond (Fournier & Avery, 2011).
Consumers and organizations alike are increasingly using the web to discuss, share,
and collaborate (Jones, 2010).

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Furthermore, social media enables companies to network with customers in order to
build relationships and achieve a better understanding of customer needs. Businesses
want their message to reach as many people as possible, and so to maximize reach,
businesses must have a presence where customers are interacting. Increasingly,
customers are interacting on social media (Halligan, Shah, & Scott, 2009).

Businesses should focus on building excitement and intimacy in their relationships

with customers through both company and customer led engagement. Their strategy
for customer acquisition, retention, and referral should allow audiences to engage
more authentically and become the authors of their own product evolution story.
Engagement can be maintained with content creating but it has to be the right content.

Small businesses face the challenge of choosing the right content in order to compete
against large companies with huge budgets and endless content. Inherently, small
businesses lack the marketing resources of big businesses, and so competitive
advantage often has to be sought from other sources and by other means (Gilmore et
al., 1999). As a consequence, small firms are moving from conventional marketing
practices towards more affordable, interactive, and integrated marketing.

Marketing practices have traditionally centred on the marketing mix model (product,
price, promotion, and place) termed the 4Ps of marketing. Integrated marketing
communication (IMC) emerged in the past few decades as a response to the changes
in the domains of marketing and marketing communications, which were brought
about by the advancement of information technology. Various interpretations and
values of IMC exist, making it nearly impossible to agree upon a universal IMC
definition (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Caywood, Schultz, and Wang define IMC (as
cited in Grunig & Grunig, 2001) as a concept that combines the disciplines of general
advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations to provide clarity,
consistency, and maximum communication impact.

2.7 Social media

In the traditional marketing strategy, the elements of the promotional mix (advertising,
personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing) are designed

14
by businesses in coordination with paid advertising agencies and marketing firms
(Mangold & Faulds, 2009). More recently, the arrival of social media has added a new
dimension to the promotional mix. Social media enables firms to engage consumers
in a timely and direct manner at relatively low cost and higher levels of efficiency than
with more traditional communication tools. This makes social media not only
appropriate for large organizations, but for small and medium size companies as well
(Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).

Several scholars suggest that despite the constraint of resources, small businesses
are likely to be more entrepreneurial, flexible, and innovative than their large
organization counterparts, making them very well suited for social media. It enables
small businesses to be more responsive to customer needs and provides them the
opportunity to get close to customers and obtain valuable feedback (Gilmore et al.,
1999) According to Social Media Examiner’s seventh annual Social Media Marketing
Industry Report, 92% of marketers working with small businesses between two and
10 employees agree or strongly agree that social media is crucial to their marketing
efforts. Learning how best to exploit the opportunities that social media offers is vital.

Social media offers an abundance of services on the Internet. This makes it

complicated for companies to know which ones to use and how to use them. Social
media has quickly become ingrained in modern life. Needless to say, it is very popular.
Facebook has more than 800 million active users, with over 50% of active users
logging on every day (Facebook, 2011). According to Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo,
Twitter has 200 million registered users, with 50 million active users logging in every
day. Twitter hosts roughly 230 million tweets every day (Taylor, 2011). It comes as no
surprise that businesses want to embrace the opportunities these services provide.

15
Figure 3. Simon Kemp: July 2018 statistical indicators for internet, social media and
mobile use around the world.

Figure 4. Simon Kemp: July 2018 year-on-year change in key statistical indicators.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the statistical growth within digital and demonstrate that there
were many changes in the world of digital, social and mobile. More than 4.1 billion
people are now online, meaning that 54 percent of the world’s total population is using
the internet in July 2018. The number of people using social media continues to grow
rapidly with the latest data showing that global users increased by 11 percent in the
year to July 2018. With 328 million new users adopting social media in the past 12
months, the digital world is also seeing additions of almost 1 million new social media
users every day. According to Kemp’s analysis this growth is not quite as rapid as it

16
was during the first three months of 2018. However, over 3.3 billion people now use
social media each month, with at least 92 percent of them accessing social media via
mobile devices. These figures support Bresciani and Eppler’s (2010) view that in
today’s digital age businesses have more marketing opportunities available to them.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram let consumers ‘friend’ or
‘follow’ favourite brands and comment or post questions as a form of engagement.
Through the use of social media, businesses can find out what is being said about
their brand and also connect with consumers (Reyneke, Pitt, & Berthon, 2011).
Consumers are able to generate new business and promote or help a brand by
tweeting, blogging, reviewing, following, etc. Loyal customers also help generate
“online word of mouth” which is very important for small businesses. Engagement with
consumers provides small businesses the opportunity to use social media as a tool for
their marketing strategies (Reyneke et al., 2011). However, many small business
owners struggle to effectively reach their customers (Small Business Trends, 2011).

Social media has caused a significant change in the strategies and tools companies
use for communicating with customers. Mangold and Faulds (2009) argue that “social
media combines characteristics of traditional IMC tools (companies talking to
customers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth (customers talking to one
another) whereby marketing managers cannot control the content and frequency of
such information.” Businesses are limited in the amount of control they have over the
content and distribution of information but ignoring such user-generated content is not
an option. Businesses must be able to monitor and respond to conversation, both
positive and negative, surrounding the brand. Additionally, there are ways that
businesses can influence these conversations in a way that is consistent with the
organization’s mission (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).

One way that companies can influence discussions is to use blogs and other social
media tools to engage customers (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). When consumers are
able to submit feedback, they feel more engaged with products and organizations.

Many companies have Twitter accounts to assist customers, apologize for mistakes,
share specials, and interact with their public. Using social media in such a manner

17
helps create transparency which can increase trust from consumers. By using Twitter
as a customer service platform, these companies are able to successfully promote a
positive brand image and solve customer problems often with less cost than call
centres or email service (Parr, 2009). Providing great customer service enables better
brand loyalty. Such well-known companies, however, have the resources to dedicate
to creating relationships with consumers.

Social media strategies can also be developed alongside other marketing and
communication efforts in order to maintain consistency across all channels.

2.8 Applied to Small Businesses

Social media marketing enables companies to achieve a better understanding of

customer needs in order to build effective relationships. The foundation of any
business is the customer. Social networking provides small businesses with multiple
opportunities to build closer and more profitable relationships with customers.
However, not all social media is the same and some are better suited for certain
marketing strategies than others.

2.9 Celebrity Culture

Celebrity culture has changed the way marketing is conducted because celebrities
play a vital role in today’s society. Celebrity culture surrounds everything as it shapes
the thoughts and conduct, style and manner of consumers (Cashmore, 2006).
Cashmore (2006) suggests that celebrity culture affects not only hardcore fans but
also the entire population. As a result, marketeers use celebrity endorsements for their
products/services to better resonate in consumers’ minds, so they can easily
remember in purchasing situations (Schultz and Brens, 1995). Friedman and
Friedman (1978) and Atkin and Block (1983) consistently found that the type of
endorser used in an advertising campaign might interact with the type of product being
endorsed. They also found out that the use of celebrity endorsers is appropriate when
product purchasing involves high social and psychological risk. Also, Packard (1957)
proposed that celebrity endorsement is effective for marketing strategies when a

18
company is selling products perceived to be status symbols. This strategy is effective
as celebrities are considered to be individuals of high status, therefore endorsing
products will influence consumers to make purchases.

19
3 Research Aims and Objectives

In Social Media Examiner’s 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, over 3,300
marketers were surveyed about their use of social media. One major finding of the
study is that social media marketing takes a lot of time. Approximately 58% of
marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week while 34% invest 11
or more hours weekly (Stelzner, 2011). A significant 90% of marketers surveyed
claimed social media was important for their businesses. The self-employed and small
business owners were more likely to strongly agree.

The research aim of this study is to develop a theoretical framework to evaluate the
effect of social media marketing on customer acquisition and retention on small
companies in the UK. The research will aim to synthesize the process of customer
attraction to small businesses through social media as well as retaining those
customers. The research will use information collected by the author from one small
company. The company this research will study is a London based fashion brand
‘House Of CB’.

Small businesses struggle to use social media to reach customers. Research on how
small businesses use social media exists, however the results are based solely on
surveys or interviews. The research fails to gain insights on the strategies owner-
managers use to engage customers on social media and check what the participants
say against what the participants do. The research on social media use by small
businesses also fails to investigate the types of messages, comments, or replies
participants post on the social media sites. The methods described in this paper aim
to bring new insights to existing literature.

The objective of this research is to evaluate the following for the company House Of
CB:

• To evaluate the social media marketing strategies

• To evaluate customer acquisition through social media
• To evaluate customer retention through social media
• To evaluate the effect of social media on acquisition and retention.

20
4 Methodology

The research aims to answer the question of how effective social media is to acquire
customers as well as retaining in regard to small businesses. The research used a
mixed method approach with qualitative and quantitative methods. Also, the research
uses primary and secondary data, and adopted the case study methodology. This
chapter provides an outline of the methods used in this study and explains the
research design and data collection methods.

The selection of the appropriate methodology is an act of balance, because it requires

harmonisation of planned possibilities with viable, coherent practice that can enable
research to work (Cohen et al, 2000). Selecting the appropriate study to deploy is not
an easy task for it cannot be decided whether quantitative or qualitative studies are
efficient or more useful. While it has been noted that qualitative studies may seem
more common in anthropology and quantitative in economics, it is obvious that many
problematic areas of research can be investigated quantitatively as well as
qualitatively (Cohen et al, 2000).

Qualitative research focuses on the accounts of people or groups and tries to

accurately reflect their attitudes, behaviours or culture. The research was conducted
with the use of primary research in the form of questionnaires that included opened
questions as well as closed questions for quantitative results.

4.1 Case study method

The case study approach is used in qualitative studies to answer questions such as
“how” or “why.” This approach is suitable for studies involving a small number of
respondents. It is an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon in depth in order
to understand the underlying patterns and causes (Yin, 2009).

A case study methodology was chosen for the research because a deeper
understanding of the chosen case company was desired. A single case study is
presented as a representative case, which captures the circumstances and conditions
of small businesses using social media to successfully grow their business (Yin, 2009).
The lessons learned from the case are assumed to be informative about the practices

21
of an average small business that has experienced growth through social media. The
researcher can discover the strategies the owner-manager uses for social media, as
well as the perceived opportunities and challenges.

A deeper understanding can also be achieved through the analysis of the small
business’s social media activity. Such an analysis can address the questions of what
messages the business is sending to customers and what conversations they are
having. Case studies require multiple sources of evidence because findings are likely
to be more accurate if they are based on several different sources of information (Yin,
2009). The study relies on two sources of evidence: interview and documentation.
Both thematic analysis and content analysis are used to identify themes and meanings
from the data.

4.2 Sampling

The selection of respondents for the primary research was done via the combination
of stratified and opportunity sampling. The stratified sample was based on gender and
social media use for keeping up with fashion brands. The gender chosen was female
as the fashion retailer is made solely for women. Opportunity sampling was used by
asking members of the population of interest if they would take part in the research.
The was done by asking customers leaving the retail stores. The online questionnaires
used random and stratified sampling as it was published using an online platform,
“Survey Monkey”. I was able to set the targeted audience I required for gender and
they were selected randomly.

4.3 Interview

The interview is one of the most important sources of case study information (Yin,
2009). Frey and Oishi (1995:01) define interviews as “a purposeful conversation in
which one person asks prepared questions (interviewer) and other answers them
(respondent)”. It is the primary means by which we use ‘people’ as sources of evidence
in research.

22
Interviews can be in-depth, focused, structured, or unstructured. A focused interview
was used for the study because it provided for a short period of time in which the
interview was open-ended but still followed a predetermined set of questions.

The owner-manager is in charge of the company’s social media activity. The

researcher intended to understand what activities the owner-manager uses to engage
customers through social media. It was important to understand what type of
messages they send, the experiences they have, the challenges they face, and their
investment in their efforts.

The researcher sent an interview request to the owner-manager but was informed that
the owner-manager was not available due to a busy schedule. However, while gaining
background information about the company using Google Search Engine and
including ‘House Of CB’ and ‘social media’, the researcher noticed there have been
several pertinent interviews conducted. Therefore, the interviews used for the
research were from secondary data, as other sources have already interviewed the
owner-manager.

The interviews used addressed topics mentioned in the literature review such as social
media strategy, challenges, experiences, and engagement. Questions that were
asked included: ‘How did you go about attracting people to your designs and your
dresses when you first got started?’, ‘Did you set up Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
account at the time?’, ‘How do you think social media has played a role in your
success?’ and ‘What 3 social media tips would you give to anyone who is trying to
grow their businesses’ or online brands’ presence?’ The questions can be found in
appendix A and B. The focused interview enabled the researcher to gain insights on
the owner-manager’s social media strategy.

Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, as it is a process for encoding
qualitative information (Boyatzis, 1998). It provides the researcher with a way of seeing
and making sense out of seemingly unrelated material. The researcher must be able
to sense themes, recognize the codable moment and encode it consistently. The
researcher must also develop codes and interpret the information and themes in the

23
context of a theory (Boyatzis, 1998). For this study, the researcher allowed the themes
to emerge from the information being analysed.

4.4 Questionnaires

The questionnaire participants were asked opened questions such as ‘How do you
feel about companies using social media to communicate with you – the customer?’
and closed questions such as ‘Do you follow House Of CB on social media?’ and ‘how
do you feel the company connects with you – the customer: A – Very poor B – Poor C
– Average D – Good E – Very good’. The full questionnaire is available in appendix C
and D. Before taking part in the study respondents were asked to read and sign a
consent form which informs them of the study (see appendix E)

4.5 Exclusions

The research provided some data that could not be used because of the following
reasons:
1. Not the required target audience.
2. Incomplete questionnaires from no answers.
Therefore, these results were excluded from the results.

4.6 Limitations

The study is limited to only be able to provide information for a specific target audience
which may not be applied to a wider population. As only one gender was targeted, this
could limit the study as different genders may behave differently and answer the
questions differently. Also, the validity of the answers given by respondents may not
be accurate as they may have given false information.

24
5 Findings

The purpose of this chapter is to present the findings of the research conducted. The
chapter will present the key questions and results from the questionnaire as well as
from the interviews. The full questionnaire and the transcript of the interview can be
found in appendix A and B. This section begins by presenting the background of the
business used.

5.1 Case study: Background of business

House of CB, established in 2010, started as an Internet-based women’s fashion

retailer. Located in the United Kingdom, the business is owned and operated by its
founder, Conna Walker. The business was an entrepreneurial endeavour that started
with Conna Walker making clothes for herself when she could not find the perfect fit
from other retailers. Conna Walker founded the brand at 17 years old when she began
selling her own designed clothes from her bedroom on eBay. After some time selling
on eBay, Walker felt eBay was restricting for her, as it wouldn’t allow her to express
her own identity. She also did not want to give away 30% or more of her profits to
eBay. With this and the hunger to be more creative and fun, she decided to build her
own website.

Walker states in several interviews and articles that she never went to University or
had any knowledge in marketing, branding or fashion; all of these were new to her. In
order to attract customers to the website, Walker admits to emailing her existing eBay
customers and directing them to her new site where she had more items for sale at
cheaper prices than on eBay. Then there was a rebrand of the company – it had been
called Celeb Boutique for several years but that was changed to House of CB.

After the rebrand, she turned to social media to help increase her brand awareness.
Walker states that at the time, she had a Twitter and Facebook as Instagram had not
yet been introduced. However, now Instagram is the company’s most used and “most
powerful tool” (Conna Walker, 2016). At the time of data collection, House of CB has

25
1.7 million followers on Instagram. 107,800 followers on Twitter and 202,000 followers
on Facebook (see figures 5-7).

Figure 5. a snapshot of House of CB Twitter account in August 2018.

Figure 6. a snapshot of House of CB Instagram account in August 2018.

26
Figure 7. A snapshot of House of CB’s Facebook account in August 2018.

Walker’s social media strategy started with having regular posts throughout the day
that would not only include information on her products but other things. However, she
soon noticed that in order to keep the interest of the customers her posts would have
to reflect the brand. Now, she uses social media to update customers on new releases,
connect with them and share details about the day-to-day of the business and the
designs. She also uses the following terminology to communicate with the customers,
“girls boss gang” and “CB Dolls” (see appendix G for the posts). She also received
some social media advice from other people in the industry that mentioned to her that
she should keep things simple and clean on Instagram as people care about the
image.

27
House of CB is well known for its figure-hugging clothing called ‘bandage’ because of
the materials used. The brand has attracted not only a large number of customers but
also celebrity customers and stylists. This has helped their marketing strategy on
social media as celebrities always tag the brand. These celebrities include Jennifer
Lopez, The Kardashians, The Jenner’s and Beyoncé (see appendix F for the posts of
celebrities). Walker describes the effect of celebrities as real – stating that whenever
they wear anything it would sell out immediately.

The company grew from just one employee in 2010, to between 201-500 employees
according to their LinkedIn profile. This fits in line with the definition of a small
business.

28
5.2 Questionnaire results for house of CB store customers

5.2.1 Question 3: Do you use social media?

Do you use social media?

2%
Yes
No
98%

Figure 8. Graph for social media use

This chart represents that out of 128 respondents, 98% use social media.

5.2.2 Question 6: Which social media platforms do you use most?

Which social media platforms do you use most?

72

31

14 11

TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM SNAPCHAT

Figure 9. Graph for social media platforms used

29
This chart demonstrates which social media platforms the respondents use the most.
From 128 respondents, 72 people use Instagram, 14 people use Twitter, 31 people
Snapchat and 11 people use Facebook.

5.2.3 Question 7: Which social media platform influences your

purchase decision, if any?

Which social media platform influences your

purchase decision, if any?

63

34

11 0

TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM SNAPCHAT

Figure 10. Graph for social media platform that has influenced purchases

The chart displays that out of 128 people 108 responded to which social media
platform influences their purchase decision. 11 are influenced by Twitter, 34 by
Facebook, 63 by Instagram and none by snapchat.

5.2.4 Question 8: Where did you first hear about House of CB?

30
 Where did you first hear about House of
CB?
Advertisements
Celebrity/influencer on social…
Social Media
Search engine (e.g. Google,…
Celebrities
Walked past the store
Word of mouth

0 10 20 30 40 50
Figure 11. Graph for where respondents first heard of the company House of CB.

This chart reveals how the 128 respondents first heard about House of CB. Social
media has 44 followed by celebrity/influencer on social media with 30. Celebrities has
23, word of mouth has 14, walked past the store has 7 and search engines has 4.

5.2.5 Question 12: Has one of these celebrities well known to be

associated with House of CB ever influenced you in making a
purchase? Celebrities: Kylie Jenner, The Kardashians,
Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.

Have celebrities influenced

your purchase at House of CB?

13% Yes
50% No
37%
Sometimes

Figure 12. Graph to show percentage of people influenced by celebrities for

purchases at House of CB.

31
This chart displays the percentage of the 128 respondents have been influenced by a
celebrity to make a purchase, these celebrities include Kylie Jenner, The Kardashians,
Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé. 50% of the respondents stated they have been
influenced with every purchase, with 13% only being influenced sometimes and 37%
not being influenced.

5.2.6 Question 13: Which option influences your purchase decision

more?

Which option influences your purchases more?

35% Celebrity/Influenc
er
65% Brands page using
own models

Figure 13. Graph to show which option respondents are influenced by.

This chart illustrates how the 128 respondents are influenced in making purchases
based on two options; a celebrity/influencer or the brand (House of CB) page using
their own models. The results indicate that 65% of people are influenced by a
celebrity/influencer and 35% by the brands page using their own models.

5.2.7 Question 8: Do you follow any brands on social media? If yes,

list up to 3.
5.2.8 Question 9: If one of your listed brands is not House Of CB,
do you follow them on social media?

32
 Do you follow House of CB on social
media?

20%
Yes
No
80%

Figure 14. Graph to show the percentage of people following House of CB on social
media.

This chart shows that 80% of the 128 respondents follow House of CB on social media
while 20% do not follow.

33
5.3 Questionnaire results from online participants

For the online survey there was 72 participants, however as mentioned in the
methodology chapter some of these were not able to be used as they were not the
targeted audience. Also, some who did not know the brand being investigated meant
that a large amount of the questions was left blank.

5.3.1 Question 3: Do you use social media?

Do you use social media?

15%

Yes
No
85%

Figure 15. Graph for social media use

This graph shows that 85% of people use social media while 15% do not.

5.3.2 Question 5: Which social media platforms do you use most?

34
 Which social media platforms do you use
most?

21

13
11
9

TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM SNAPCHAT

Figure 16. Graph for social media platforms used

This graph indicates that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are used by the
respondents. Instagram has the highest with 21 people, followed by twitter with 13,
Facebook 11, and Snapchat with 9.

5.3.3 Question 6: Which social media platform influences your

purchase decision, if any?

Which social media platform influences

your purchase decision, if any?

20
16
13

TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM SNAPCHAT

Figure 17. Graph for social media platform that has influenced purchases

This graph reveals that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat influence the
respondents to make purchases. Instagram with the highest with 20, Facebook with
16, Twitter with 13 and Snapchat with 5.

5.3.4 Question: Do you know House of CB?

35
 Do you know House of CB?

30%
Yes
No
70%

Figure 18. Graph to show the percentage of people that know House of CB.

This graph shows that 70% of the respondents know House of CB and 30% do not.

5.3.5 Question: Where did you first hear about House of CB?

Where did you first hear about House of CB?

Magazine/online publications
Advertisements
Celebrity/influencer on social media
Social Media
Search engine (e.g. Google, Yahoo,…
Celebrities
Walked past the store
Word of mouth

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Figure 19. Graph for where respondents first heard of the company House of CB.

This graph shows how the respondents heard about House of CB.
Celebrities/influencers on social media scores 17, Celebrities 11, social media and
word of mouth both score 5.

36
5.3.6 Question: Have celebrities influenced your purchase decision
at House of CB?

Have celebrities influenced your

purchase decision at House of CB?

24% Yes
No
13% 63% Sometimes

Figure 20. Graph to show percentage of people influenced by celebrities for

purchases at House of CB.

This chart indicates whether celebrities influenced the respondents purchase decision
at House of CB. 63% have been influenced, 24% have sometimes been influenced
and 13% have not been influenced.

5.3.7 Question: Which option influences your purchases more?

Which option influences your purchases

more?

32% Celebrity/Influencer

Brands page using

68% own models

Figure 21. Graph to show which option respondents are influenced by.

37
This graph shows between the two options – celebrity/influencer and brands page
using their own models, which influences the respondents purchase more. 68% are
influenced by celebrity/influencer and 32% by brands page using their own models.

38
5.4 Interviews results

These are some of the pertinent questions that relate to the research objectives that
were asked. The researcher chose some questions which have been shortened for
the purpose of this study. The full transcript can be found in Appendix A and B, as well
as a link to the original source of the interviews.

5.4.1 Question: Outside of just emailing the customers that you

already had off of eBay, how did you go about attracting
people to your designs and your dresses when you first got
started?

Conna Walker: “At first I just based it off having a really cool product that other people
didn’t have…” “…I didn’t pay for adverts or anything at first and I found through social
media…people would come to me and we’d have celebrities and clients, who would
then have to tag us…so we did it in a pretty kind of organic kind of way.

5.4.2 Question: So did you set up a Twitter, Facebook and

Instagram account at the time? Was Instagram around at the
time?

Conna Walker: Instagram wasn’t around at the time, mainly Twitter and Facebook. At
the time it was predominantly Facebook, and then Twitter kind of took the lead and
then, now, Instagram is definitely the most powerful tool for us.
“…Originally, I would just update throughout the day, and speak about things that
maybe aren’t necessarily our products…”
“…To keep the interest of the customers, I wanted the posts to reflect that the brand
was cool, and that we were part of their lifestyle, rather than just trying to sell them
something…”

5.4.3 Question: Did you have to identify your customers in order to

connect with them, or were they your ideal customers
anyway?

39
Conna Walker: “…With a brand, you’re constantly evolving, so, for example, we have
customers who have shopped with us from day one, but four or five years along the
line, they don’t want the same thing they wanted… So we have to evolve with them;
social media is really good for that being able to speak to your customer in finding out
what they like and what they don’t like, and sometimes silence speaks as much as
words do… If your pictures aren’t getting likes, it means that people don’t like it.”

5.4.4 Question: Has your perception of social media changed?

Conna Walker: “Yes, definitely. At first, it was it was kind of about getting our name
out there, so we would do a lot of competitions, we would work across other brands
on giveaways and we were dependent on a lot of celebrities to tag us…”

“a more brand-aware social presence, so all of our pages when you land on them, we
want our customers to know what we are about immediately. “

“We just want to tell our story more, with our social media, not just trying to get more
customers. “

5.4.5 Question: So essentially are your customers on social media,

helping to drive and mould where you’re taking the brand?

Conna Walker: “It’s all about what the customer wants and we listen and we like to
know our customer.”

“It’s not just about designs, people are asking for next-day delivery options all the time
and you need to find a way to give that to them, you need to stay upfront with all your
competitors, if they offer next-day delivery, you need to offer next-day delivery; if
people are offering free-shipping then you need to offer free-shipping. You have to
listen, customers will tell you a lot even if you don’t want to hear it and it will grow your
business in really good ways.”

40
5.4.6 Question: How do you think social media has played a role in
your success?

Conna Walker: “It has been one of the key factors to building my brand. Without it, it
wouldn't have been possible. It has been key to our growth. We don't post any classic
advertising—we don't do TV ads, we don't do any paid advertising in that way. So it's
all quite organic, and I do think that is truly because of social media. The whole social
media celebrity thing has really made people aware of the brand.”

5.4.7 Question: What does that do for business when celebs wear
your stuff?

Conna Walker: For business, it's amazing. It has given us a lot of credibility that could
have taken a lot longer to gain. I think that it kind of makes us more desired as a brand.
In terms of numbers, I mean, the Kardashian Effect is very real, so whenever they
wear anything it sells out immediately. Same with Beyoncé, same with JLo. They all
have that kind of effect.

41
6 Analysis and Discussion
From the two questionnaires conducted with online and instore customers, it clearly
shows that the majority use social media. From the 128 respondents of the instore
customers, 98% use social media. While from the online survey of 54 respondents
fitting the target audience, 84% use social media.

The respondents who use social media where then asked, “Which social media
platform do you use most?” and the answers were Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and
Snapchat in both sets of results. However, Instagram scored the highest for both
questionnaires. As a result, Instagram also scored the highest for the biggest influence
in purchase decision making. Peculiarly, the responses of customers instore revealed
that none were influenced to make purchases through social media marketing on
Snapchat.

From these results it can be suggested that people who use social media are very
likely to be influenced to make purchases by social media marketing. However, the
results also indicate which social media platform influences customers more therefore
small businesses should consider using different platforms. This is very key for small
businesses as it helps steer the marketing strategy towards the right social media
platforms for businesses. These results answer the objectives of the research because
they indicate that there is no one size fits all for social media marketing, and the results
also provides a framework for specific social media marketing strategies for small
businesses.

Additionally, from the interview findings, the owner-manager of House of CB states

that social media has been one of the key aspects to building the brand. The owner-
manager also states that the brand has used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but has
seen that Instagram is the most powerful tool for the brand. This supports the
questionnaire results, which indicated that different social media platforms produce
different results. This is further supported by the case study results of House of CB
because the time of the data collection, House of CB’s is most popular on Instagram
with over 1 million followers, while Facebook and Twitter have 310,000 followers
between them.

42
It is clear that for a business-like House of CB, using Instagram for marketing is the
preferred method both for the business and its customers. This may be because
Instagram is a photo and video-sharing platform, giving House of CB an opportunity
to make their content more visually appealing for their customers. This is the social
media marketing strategy the founder chose to adopt because she believes her
customers care about image and a “pretty” page to look at. This strategy gives an
insight on how this small business uses social media to attract customers through a
specific social media marketing strategy.

As mentioned in the literature review, small businesses face the challenge of choosing
the right content in order to compete with large companies with more resources.
However, a small business like House of CB has found their competitive advantage
(Gilmore et al., 1999). House of CB are constantly publishing content to reach their
audience and they quickly discerned that this content should closely reflect their brand.
The brand is very feminine, and they make this very known with the pink theme across
their social media and constant slogan of “Girl Boss” (see appendix G for the results
from the case study). As well as this, they have recently used the fact the owner is a
woman to target fellow women with content quoting “For women, made by women”
(see appendix G for the results from the case study). This encourages other women
to be followers/customers of the brand through supporting a female owned small
business. House of CB have used their niche of targeting women as their competitive
advantage. This marketing strategy not only attracts new customers to the brand but
also retains their customers, because they are constantly being reminded that the
owner of the brand is the same as them. As discussed in the literature review, House
of CB’s social media marketing strategy aims to build intimate relationships with their
customers by more meaningful relationships like this. The way they communicate with
their customers by using “girl boss gang” as well as “CB Dolls” create a community
with their customers.

The survey conducted with instore customers revealed that the majority of customers
first heard about House of CB through social media – either social media in general
or, more specifically, a celebrity/influencer on social media. Whereas, the survey from
online respondents indicated that 70% knew the brand and from those the majority

43
heard of the brand through a celebrity/influencer on social media. In both cases, social
media is the main method for awareness of the brand. Also, from the interview, the
owner-manager states that social media is the only marketing the company does; the
company does not and has never used any classic advertising such as television
adverts or paid advertisements. The company relies on social media and celebrity
marketing to make people aware of her brand.

The results from both surveys indicate that House of CB’s celebrity focused marketing
strategy influences customers to make purchases. In both survey’s respondents were
asked if a celebrity/influencer has influenced their purchase decision, and the majority
had been influenced. As mentioned in the literature review, celebrity culture has
helped impact businesses, and hence we see more companies using celebrities as
ambassadors. Being a small business, House of CB, does not have the budget to pay
celebrities for their endorsements. Instead, House of CB networked and ensured the
free product they sent to celebrities stood out. In the case of House of CB, the brand
became a favourite of well-known celebrities with huge influences to the brand’s target
audience. These celebrities include The Kardashians, The Jenner’s, Jennifer Lopez.
and Beyoncé. They have all helped the brand grow tremendously simply through
wearing the clothes on red carpets and Instagram postings.

House of CB social media strategy helped grow the brand from an eBay business to
a well-known affordable female clothing business. The brands growth can also be
seen from the progress of being solely online to having physical stores in the UK, US,
and most recently Australia. The owner-manager also explains that the brand is
constantly evolving. Conna Walker believes that in order to connect with her
customers the brand has to evolve as their customer’s preference and fashion trends
evolve. She explains that social media has helped her small business be able to do
this easier due to the ability of being able to speak with the customers. She also
explains how easy it is to understand whether her products are being positively
received through social media. Social media has allowed the business to analyse their
detailed insights of each marketing campaign and identify the impressions it has made
on customers. Walker, states that sometimes certain pictures they post will not get
‘likes’ on social media, and therefore that helped the business understand that

44
customers do not like product in the post. Walker’s brand evolves in order to retain her
customers by delivering the needs and wants of the customers.

Another way that House of CB’s social media marketing strategy has evolved is after
the tremendous growth of the brand’s following they now use social media differently.
At first, the brand used social media for awareness by having marketing campaigns
that involved competitions, working with other brands, and being dependent on
celebrities tagging the brand. However, as they have grown they now use social media
as a platform to tell the brands story such as the design process, behind the scenes
of shoots, and more detail on the owner-manager. Additionally, they have ensured that
their social media presence is clearly identified and in line with their brand by being
more brand-aware.

From the literature review, it suggests that the notion of marketing had redefined in
2013 to emphasise the value of customers and product value (Ferrell & Hartline 2011,
7; American Marketing Association 2013). This is understood that customer
satisfaction is more than high quality products at low prices. House of CB is described
as affordable luxury clothing; however, the owner-manager also states that putting
their customers first by listening to their wants is integral to their brand. In an interview,
the owner-manager explains that her customers want next-day delivery options, and
as a small business you have to find a way to give that to them to stay ahead of
competitors. Social media allows small businesses the opportunity to listen to their
customer in real time, which will help grow the business quicker. Also, social media
allows a small business to interact with customers fasters and provide customer
service in a different way than done traditionally. The case study results show how
House of CB communicates with its customers. They reply to customers’ comments
whether good or bad, as well as ‘liking’ customers’ pictures that they are tagged in.
In a digital age, social media helps small business to be able to retain their customer
through simply communicating with their customers.

45
7 Conclusions

The research findings and analysis indicate that small businesses can use social
media marketing to acquire and retain customers. As the literature suggests, small
businesses do not have the same budgets as larger businesses therefore social media
marketing can be used to help small businesses compete with their larger
counterparts. The use of social media is beneficial for a small business as it provides
ease to evolve with their customers. This is very key in the fashion industry as it is
constantly changing, and businesses like House of CB are required to be able to
change with the fashion trends to meet the customers’ needs and wants. The research
suggests that customer acquisition for a small business, such as House of CB, can be
achieved through social media using competitions, celebrity endorsements and
branding. House of CB social media marketing strategy also involved ensuring the
content they produce relates to their brand identity. For example, the pink theme
across all social media channels and “girl boss” as a slogan indicate the brands
femininity. House of CB is targeted to women; hence their social media marketing
strategy of feminine content will drive customers to the brand. It is essential for a small
business to identify their target market and ensure the content they produce for social
media fits in line with their target.

The finding and analysis suggest that celebrity endorsement can play a huge role in
the success of a business. In the case of House of CB, celebrity endorsement is the
main reason for their success. However, without social media marketing, celebrity
endorsement would not have had the same impact. Social media marketing allows
celebrities to tag a business on posts which sends customers to these businesses.
House of CB saw the potential and ensured they reached out to celebrities by sending
product as well as using networking to help their social media presence. The way
House of CB uses social media to inform others that a celebrity has worn their clothes
is by reposting celebrity posts, and creating content dedicated to celebrities wearing
their clothes. This is easily done on Instagram, which is their preferred platform, and
it’s evident that it works as they have over 1 million followers (at the time of data
collection), which includes lots of celebrities. This social media marketing strategy
allows for new customers to be gained but also retaining their existing customers when
they see celebrities wearing clothes they can buy.

46
Social media marketing gives the opportunity to small businesses to interact with its
customers. The company researched, House of CB, retain its customers by creating
a community using hashtags such as “Girl Boss Gang” and calling their customers
“CB Dolls”. This gives customers a sense of belonging to a brand rather than a
separation. Additionally, House of CB uses social media to respond to their customers
in their comments, ensuring they reply to most comments whether they are good or
bad. They also ‘like’ customers’ pictures and sometimes repost the pictures on their
social media. This will help House of CB in retaining their customers as the company
is establishing an image of putting their customers first.

47
8 Recommendations

In order for a small business to compete with larger business or just simply increase
their profits by acquiring customers and retaining their customers, they should be using
social media. However, they should be using social media differently to that of a large
business as they endless budgets and content. A small business needs to identify their
target and what their competitive advantage is and hone in on these aspects. Social
media marketing will help send their messages out easier, but they will have to fight
through the noise.

A small business should aim to create a community with their customers to keep them
involved. This technique has been popular even with celebrities such as Nicki Minaj
with “Barbs”, Beyoncé with “Beehive” and Lady Gaga with “Monsters” for their fans.
House of CB has used this technique by calling their customers “CB Dolls”. For a small
business this is imperative because it will differentiate them from larger companies
and other small businesses in their industry. A small business should endeavour to
actively interact with their customer using social media, and try to develop celebrity
relationships on social media, as well as relationships with magazines/blogs dedicated
to their industry.

In terms of recommendations for House of CB, they should go further in customer

interactions by allowing customers to submit designs to be featured. This could be
done using competitions which was a social media marketing strategy they used to
do. Despite growing and being successful, there is still room for improvement which
may be employing techniques used previously. As the company grows they may move
towards similar techniques to larger businesses, however, a recommendation would
be to not lose their identity and continue to interact with their customers the way they
do.

48
9 Reflective statement

Personal interest in the research topic was a key element to ensure the success of
this study. I chose the research topic as I am interested in the fashion industry and I
have previously worked for the company I have chosen. However, as my topic was
based on customer acquisition and retention it was difficult to measure the retention
rates as the owner-manager did not reveal this information. Also, after conducting my
questionnaires I noticed I could have asked a question based around retention. This
would have helped me understand how long customers have been with the company,
whether they have considered to leave, or do they shop at the company’s competitors.

The most difficult aspect of the research was the questionnaire process. It was difficult
to create a questionnaire that involved open and closed questions as well as asking
the correct questions. Also, handing out questionnaires and receiving responses was
a difficult process. Due to not many people willing to take part in the research I had to
extend my 3 days of market research to 10 days to ensure I received an adequate
amount of results. This prolonged putting the findings in tables/graphs and then further
analyse the data. Also, I had two questionnaires as I needed more data for certain
questions. As a result, I chose to conduct the second questionnaire online using
“survey monkey”, however some results were incomplete which distorted the results.
Therefore, to ensure the accuracy as much as possible some results were excluded.

This project helped me develop an understanding of the process of conducting market

research as well as how to analyse the data. Although, more learning needs to be
done to further help the analysis process as it was the weakest element of the
research.

Next time I should aim to have conducted my own interviews with the owner-manager.
Although, I did reach out but was informed that the owner-manager was not available
for a long period of time. Therefore, I should have reached out early enough as well
as offer alternatives such as email interviewing. This would have helped the research
be more specific and detailed as I would have been able to ask specific questions
required.

49
10 Contextualisation statement

Learning outcome 1: Demonstrate the different challenges of their chosen

business/marketing issue in the context of their specialist area with the use of
appropriate evidence-based and theoretical literature

The literature review provides adequate information to help further investigate the
challenges faced by small businesses with social media marketing to acquire and
retain customers. In order to understand the scope of the topic I first defined the two
main elements of the topic (acquisition and retention), provide a background of
marketing and how it has developed and introduced social media marketing. The
literature review closes with a brief background on celebrity culture as it plays an
integral part in the chosen company’s social media marketing strategy. The literature
review allowed me to explain the importance of the research and provide the research
aims and objective. Following this, I applied the methods to my research.

Learning outcome 2: Exercise appropriate judgment in the planning, selection

and collection of evidence to investigate the chosen issue via primary and/or
secondary data

In order to understand the customers, I decided that the most efficient way to do this
would be by asking them directly. Therefore, I decided to collect primary data through
questionnaires with open and closed questions. I used two slightly different questions.
One was for the instore customers at the physical store and the other was for a wide
audience online. I also decided to use a mixed methodology where I used secondary
data of interviews that has been conducted with the owner-manager. The selection of
the sample was stratified because there was a specific target audience for the
company, therefore I had to target the same audience. It was also opportunity
sampling as I had to ask customers of House of CB leaving the store to take part in
the research.

Learning outcome 3: Analyse and evaluate the findings (primary and/or

secondary data) in the light of the appropriate theoretical background and the
constraints introduced by practical and real-life business issues

50
The findings were analysed using the appropriate method for quantitative and
qualitative research. The questionnaire provided raw data which I interpreted into
numbers. With these numbers I was able to input into excel and create graphs which
was used for analysis. The graphs provided ease of analysis and was able to discuss
the findings further. These were then used to come to conclusions of the research and
provide recommendations to small businesses as a whole and a specific
recommendation to the company chosen.

Learning outcome 4: Communicate effectively the business project elements,

including presentation of quantitative/qualitative data in appropriate format and
a well-structured professional report

The findings that were important to the research objectives have been presented in
graphs with detailed explanations of the graph itself. Also, these graphs were then
used for the analysis and used to summarise the whole research.

Learning outcome 5: Demonstrate the development of independent and self-

managed learning

The project had a specific timeline that was constructed into different stages of the
research in order to help with time management. During the project I dedicated an
allocated time to finding the relevant literature, read and analyse them. The literature
consisted of different academic resources which then helped develop the research
objectives. The literature gave me an understanding and in-depth knowledge about
social media marketing for small businesses. The research taught me how to
investigate my research aim and analyse the data of my findings. The most important
element of the project was being able to manage time well in order to conduct the
research needed to draw conclusions and recommendations according to the
research aim.

11 Link to Video Submission

This is the link to the video submission for the project https://youtu.be/UKWauFO8wKc

51
12 Appendices

12.1 Appendix A: Transcript of interview 1

MSMPA: How did you get started with House of CB, where did it all start?

Conna Walker: I started when I was 17 selling things on eBay, I’m 22 now, so that was
about 5 years ago. I had a Blackberry at the time and it would send me information of
when something sold, I’d answer questions before school, during school, and pack
orders after school. It was getting to a point where I felt eBay was quite restricting, you
couldn’t have your own sense of identity on there, there’s no shop fronts, and you’re
kind of the same as everyone else. I felt that, if big brands could have a website, then
why shouldn’t I? That was kind of my plan, to be more than just someone selling
something on eBay, I wanted my own store, as such. When it started getting busy I
figured that I don’t need to be giving away 30% or whatever it is that they take, I wanted
more creative control, to be able to have more fun with it, so, within a few months I
decided to start my own website. I did something a little bit naughty and I took all the
emails from the eBay customers I had and emailed them all saying I had a website
and that things on the website were a little bit cheaper and that I had other stuff on
there as well, and from there it started to grow.

MSMPA: Outside of just emailing the customers that you already had off of
eBay, how did you go about attracting people to your designs and your dresses
when you first got started?

Conna Walker: Well, I never went to Uni at all, or did anything in marketing or branding
and I haven’t got any fashion background so for me everything was quite new. At first
I just based it off having a really cool product that other people didn’t have and putting
it in a setting that is attractive, so a good clear photo, a good model, a good
photographer, and from there I tried to make my site pretty, it sounds really silly, but
things looking attractive are really important. And I tried to make somewhere, that I felt
didn’t exist at the time, a store that didn’t exist for those kind of products at that kind
of price. Although it’s not cheap, it’s not really high-end expensive, so I kind of did it
very organically, I didn’t pay for adverts or anything at first and I found through social

52
media, generally, that people would come to me and we’d have celebrities and clients,
who would then have to tag us and all that kind of stuff, so we did it in a pretty kind of
organic kind of way.

MSMPA: So did you set up a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account at the
time? Was Instagram around at the time?

Conna Walker: Instagram wasn’t around at the time, mainly Twitter and Facebook. At
the time it was predominantly Facebook, and then Twitter kind of took the lead and
then, now, Instagram is definitely the most powerful tool for us. Originally, I would just
update throughout the day, and speak about things that maybe aren’t necessarily our
products: I’d post Beyoncé videos and that kind of thing, to keep people interested,
not just trying to sell the products. To keep the interest of the customers, I wanted the
posts to reflect that the brand was cool, and that we were part of their lifestyle, rather
than just trying to sell them something. Talking about new music videos kept people
interested and paying attention, and it kind of just snowballed, literally, from there, it
was just quite a natural progression really.

MSMPA: So I think that’s a already a key lesson that people can take note of,
don’t just post about what you’re selling but try to engage customers in other
things which they like as well, which is an important thing that a lot of people
miss out on… most people think “Okay how can I sell my dress, or how can I
sell my food, or their services or whatever…”?

Conna Walker: It’s kind of more personal… not generally corporately selling stuff…

MSMPA: Did you have to identify your customers in order to connect with them,
or were they your ideal customers anyway?

Conna Walker: In a sense, I think it works more that you create something and you
stay true to whatever you feel that is. And the customers who like that will come to
that, rather than trying to base it on a specific type of person. With a brand, you’re
constantly evolving, so, for example, we have customers who have shopped with us
from day one, but four or five years along the line, they don’t want the same thing they

53
wanted… So we have to evolve with them; social media is really good for that being
able to speak to your customer in finding out what they like and what they don’t like,
and sometimes silence speaks as much as words do… If your pictures aren’t getting
likes, it means that people don’t like it. You have to kind of figure things out like that;
but for us it’s like House Of CB is a person that’s constantly evolving. So for example;
Abercrombie & Fitch keep the same style for a certain person; but for House of CB I
see it that we grow with our customers, we prefer to evolve with them rather than
targeting a set age group or style, or that kind of thing, we kind of evolve with the
customer, rather than target specifically.

MSMPA: Has your perception of social media changed?

Conna Walker: Yes, definitely. At first, it was it was kind of about getting our name out
there, so we would do a lot of competitions, we would work across other brands on
giveaways and we were dependent on a lot of celebrities to tag us, and since then we
developed a more brand-aware social presence, so all of our pages when you land on
them, we want our customers to know what we are about immediately. About 90% of
all our content is our own, so our videos and our pictures are all from us, which in the
beginning we couldn’t afford to do, so we had to use customers’ pictures and “cool”
lifestyle pictures to kind of build that. But we definitely changed in how we do things,
now we want to tell the story of the brand: how things are made, the designers and
behind-the-scenes photoshoots. We just want to tell our story more, with our social
media, not just trying to get more customers. Of course, we want to do that aswell, but
we really want to tell the story of the brand and develop that.

MSMPA: So how involved are you now still with the social media, do you
oversee it?

Conna Walker: Yeah, definitely, I have a few girls that run it full-time for me, but we
kind of go through everything, the kind of things we want to post, and have more of a
schedule, which seems kind of commercial, which it is, but we have a more scheduled
structure than we used to, because before, it would just be me posting things I thought
were cool, or new products, but now if you look at our Instagram it has one line which
has all the products, lifestyle pictures or celebrities, it’s a lot more structured, but

54
everything that happens we sit down and we talk it through and we decide what is
going to go out because the brand voice has to be consistent, the lingo and everything
has to have a consistency to embody the whole brand, and I oversee that process.

MSMPA: What I’m getting from you is that as you’ve grown as a company,
you’ve had to take a more strategic approach to your Social Media. How did you
figure out what was working for you?

Conna Walker: It was mainly trial-and-error, as I said, I didn’t have any training in
marketing or business so it was very much a case of try some things and see how
they work, if people don’t respond well, then change it, but the one tricky thing with
social media is that you always have to keep evolving as well, so what may have
worked two years ago may not work now. It’s always good to listen to people as well,
my friend Marianna once told me when I first came to L.A.: “Your Instagram page is
so messy”, and I said “Why would people care about a messy Instagram page?” But
these are all things you learn from other people and you really have to listen, and take
note of what other people are doing. Take a secret look at all those those people and
see what you can do to elevate yourself to that level. It’s constantly changing

MSMPA: Your images have evolved over time, you’ve said you used to use
customer images and lifestyle images. At what point did you realize that you’d
have to invest more in your imagery, are your sales driven by the images that
you put out there? How important are images to your strategy?

Conna Walker: I think it was a progressive thing, at first I started with flat product shots:
no model and white background. I didn’t want a model at first, because i thought it
made it look messy, and I liked the clean pristine look, and eventually when I began
to use models, it increased sales! People responded much better to a real person in
clothes, rather than just a flat picture. Since then, look-books have evolved, our styling,
the way we shoot, they types of locations we shoot. It has all been progressive, you
learn more about your brand, you start to understand the types of things you want to
photograph and don’t want to photograph. Imagery is very important for us, without it
we would be a lot further behind, for example with a black leather shirt, you can style
it certain ways, but if it was just flat you wouldn’t be able to show the customer how

55
else it could look other than their own imagination, and when you’re selling online, you
only have one chance to sell things to people through pictures, they can’t walk into a
store and touch it, so you have to show that product in the best possible light.

MSMPA: I remember when your dresses were worn by the girls on TOWIE, and
now you have J-LO, Beyonce, Kylie Jenner, how did you go about making your
brand attractive to create these type of opportunities?

Conna Walker: I feel that for opportunities, opportunities don’t just land on your lap
you have to go out and get them, I’m not particularly sociable or like public speaking,
but, for me, I actually pushed myself to going to events, and go to speak to people and
speak to them and sell myself and my brand; say for someone like the Kardashians,
they have thousands of products delivered to them every day and if people don’t make
them stand out, or if you don’t make a personal connection with either someone in
their camp or them, then you’re just going to be another brand sending items and
hoping that they like them. So for me you really have to put yourself out there, you
have to go and meet people, you have to really work on your brand, you have to be
passionate about your brand, of course opportunities can come, but only if you’re
working for them. For me, networking is a key thing, I came out to L.A, maybe 6 or 7
months ago for the first time, it’s been amazing for me but at the same time you have
to network, which I wasn’t very good at, you have to speak with people and work with
people in a really positive way. They won’t just land on your lap, in my experience.

MSMPA: So you had to step out of your comfort zone in order to create these
opportunities, and I suppose this is backed by having a good product…

Conna Walker: Yes, of course, if your product is no good, then people won’t like it so
you have to work on your brand, how it’s represented and how you represent it through
yourself. You are a part of your brand and you have to present yourself in the same
manner, and it all has to come together to reach the likes of Jennifer Lopez and the
Kardashians. It’s also progression, we’ve been here for 4 or 5 years, we’ve really been
working at this for a long time and connect everything we do and understand what our
customers want and understand what celebrities want and working with an array of
celebrities you and your brand have to be on point.

56
MSMPA: What would your advice be to someone starting an online business in
this day and age, should they be investing in Social Media ads?

Conna Walker: If someone is giving you a huge investment, then do it… But if you are
starting the same way I did and you don’t have any investors or anything like that, and
you have to grow organically, then I wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t pay for the Ads etc. But
I would say, things like eBay, I mean, we don’t sell on eBay anymore, but at the time
it was really good because it puts you in front of a lot of customers, at no cost… well,
apart from the commission that they take, but you know, you don’t need to pay for
advertising, as such. And that way you can sell your product without too much risk.
But in the first place you don’t need a large investment, don’t go and spend 5K on a
photoshoot, do things within your means, like use a cool photographer, who’s not
expensive, use your girl that’s really hot. I mean, I remember on eBay, I would wear
the things myself and my mum would take the picture and they still sold. So you can
definitely do things that don’t really cost, and still get the job done for that stage. Of
course, when you’ve grown, you can’t stand in front of the camera and have your mum
take the pictures anymore, but as you’re setting up and you’re growing, it’s fine to do
those things. You don’t need to spend huge amounts of money, you don’t need to find
an investor, especially with social media, you can organically market your product
yourself, without paying anybody, just dope pictures, dope product and you’re good.

MSMPA: What would you say has been your biggest mistake or lessen you’ve
learned while building your business?

Conna Walker: My biggest mistake is that at one point, I stopped listening to my

customers, so some of our products were not on-brand, they were not what we would
get excited over and by losing our brand look for a second, we lost interest and our
customers lost interest, and then it was really difficult and it took a very long time, to
get back on-brand, and pull our customers back in and interest them again. Once you
lose someone, it’s very difficult to pull them back in. You can’t knock on their door and
ask them to look at our new stuff. You can email them and try, but, we changed our
name to House of CB, we revamped our whole image, people had fallen out of love
with us and I’m very fortunate that people have fallen back in love with us. Now it’s

57
really important that in the weekly meetings with my designers we have a very strong
look of where we want to go, we really listen to what people say on social media and
their response. That was probably my biggest mistake, but at the same time it was the
biggest learning curve and the most important, because if you’re not sure of where
your brand is headed, it’ll be a total disaster.

MSMPA: So essentially are your customers on social media, helping to drive

and mould where you’re taking the brand?

Conna Walker: Of course, that’s the only reason I’m here. If there were no customers
then I wouldn’t be here. If they say they want green dresses with long sleeves and
finger covers then cool, we’ll do it. It’s all about what the customer wants and we listen
and we like to know our customer. Obviously as we design 8 months in advance, we
have to guess what they want in 6-8 months time, but by seeing their response to
current pieces we can gauge. It’s not just about designs, people are asking for next-
day delivery options all the time and you need to find a way to give that to them, you
need to stay upfront with all your competitors, if they offer next-day delivery, you need
to offer next-day delivery; if people are offering free-shipping then you need to offer
free-shipping. You have to listen, customers will tell you a lot even if you don’t want to
hear it and it will grow your business in really good ways.

MSMPA: What 3 social media tips would you give to anyone who is trying to
grow their businesses’ or online brands’ presence?

Conna Walker: I would really try and keep a strong brand image and voice, so don’t
sway around too much, keep it very clear the type of brand that you are; listen to your
customers and respond to your customers, not just complaints, but in general, as long
as we see the post on Instagram, we will always like the post if they’ve tagged us,
sometimes, we get a lot, so sometimes we miss them, but you have to really show
appreciation to your customers and respond to them, it’s the only real chance you get
to speak to the people that are appreciating and buying your things. And the third thing
that I would say, is to try and separate yourself as much as you can from other people,
try and create as much original content as possible. Whether it’s just doing pictures of
your friends in your clothes or whatever, but try and keep it as original as possible and

58
that way people will understand that you are your own brand and not just using what
a tonne of other people are posting. You have to really make yourself different from
everyone else.

59
12.2 Appendix B: Transcript of interview 2

You started the company at 17, selling items on eBay. How did go from that to
designing your own pieces and building your own brand?

I had a lot of growth with selling items on eBay, but I realized that that was only as far
as that could take me, so I realized I needed to start creating my own stuff. And then,
again, there is only so much you can do yourself, so I hired some designers so
everything has been designed in-house. It was a very natural process.

I read that you don't actually have a fashion background, yet you've still
managed to create such an impressive business. How and why do you think that
is?

I think it really comes down to a really—I honestly just really, really loved clothes. I'd
always been looking for things that I couldn't find and I am not bad at drawing, so that
was kind of a natural thing for me, I guess. Then I was lucky that the manufacturers I
was working with at the time didn't need me to be super professional or technical. They
just understood through my explanations of how I wanted stuff. But when the business
got better I hired designers and they brought things to the table, like how you structure
a design and all the technicalities, so I didn't have to learn that myself. I was quite
lucky in that regard. Even though I did not necessarily have a plan in the beginning, I
found out quite quickly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to take things. Learning
as I went along taught me a lot more than, say, just beginning with a lot of cash and a
big company already. It's made a huge difference in how I handled the brand and how
it's all very hands-on.

Who is the woman you had in mind when you started designing?

Honestly, it was really for me at first. And even still now, I am still the girl that I design
for—although our customers are the whole reason we do what we do. A lot of it was
just because there were things I wanted that I felt I could not find anywhere else. And
so I made them.

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How about now?

I've always loved JLo, so she is one of them. But then I go in and out of phases with
other people. Like right now I am obsessed with Hailey Baldwin. I'll have a muse for a
few months and then I will move on to someone else. But my all-time is JLo. Then
there's this other girl called Kristen Noel Crawley on Instagram.

She writes for us!

Oh, really? She's amazing. Her style is insane. So yeah, there's a few people that I
always go to and then I just get these little girl crushes for a few months and then I
move on.

Did you have a specific body type in mind when designing? Women with curves,
maybe?

Yes, definitely. And I think I wanted to design for a girl that did not necessarily have
curves, but wanted them, if that makes sense. I had a very feminine idea in mind. But
I think also the whole thing has evolved a lot and that's partially because of the
difference of me being 17 when I started and now being 23. We're quite consistent in
how feminine we are, but now we are getting a bit more modern. Things are quite
figure hugging.

How would you say House of CB has changed over the years?

One of the biggest things is the colour palette. I was super into neon when I was
younger—terrible, terrible colours—and now it is mainly neutral. We have a few bright
and maybe a sherbet orange in there, but yes, mostly a neutral colour palette. Most of
clothes are cooler, more modern, and I think most of the clothes are more design
based than they were before. I think this is all a testament to the growth I've had as a
person, and what kind of style I want now was different than what I wanted before.

61
The colour palette really seems to be in line with the Kardashians. Which came
first?

I think it is kind of a two-way street. A lot of high-end brands have been putting out a
lot of neutral colors—obviously the Kardashians stick to a lot of neutral colors, but it's
also not just them. I think a lot of their stylists often stick to neutrals. It's just a style
that is currently trending. But we also design based on what we think our customers
will like, and what our celebrity clients will want to wear, so yeah, it's really a give and
take.

The orange dress Khloé Kardashian wore to your store opening did seem
different for the brand!

Yeah, it was something that was designed for our resort collection, hence the brighter
orange color. It's one of the pieces she picked that has those signature elements—
revealing cutouts on the side, the high neck, a sexy balance. But yeah, Khloé just
loves a lot of our pieces as they are, she's a really great supporter of the brand.

You have so many supporters in Hollywood! Why do you think everyone loves
House of CB so much?

It's funny because I was speaking to Rob, who is one of JLo's stylists, when we were
in Vegas, and he said that [he loves it] because it's a sexy brand that not's cheap, if
that makes sense. Like the fit and the fabrics are really good. And he said that they
find it difficult to find brands that strike that balance. He mentioned a few others that
have that vibe, but other than that, everyone is either quite covered up or really casual.
It's about finding that balance in the middle, and that's kind of why he thinks people
love it so much. Also, a lot of our pieces do not have to be tailored for celebrities, which
is really pretty unusual. They can just put it on and go.

As someone who is not in Hollywood, I appreciate how much your items cost.
Why did you want to sell at this specific price point?

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Like I said before, when I first started out I was designing for me. It wouldn't have made
sense to sell pieces to 18-year-olds that would cost $2,000. There isn't anything
affordable for your normal girl that is at the quality level or of our design and style. I
think, again, that's part of the reason why celebrities like to wear it. It's more relatable
as well.

Can you point to a moment where you felt like: Yes! This is my breakthrough!

I think it was actually Kylie [Jenner]—I mean, Kylie wore the Alessa, a striped, high-
neck bodysuit on an episode of KUWTK and oh my gosh, I had to rewind it! And then
I think she also wore it in a promo picture for something two weeks later, and I was
like: Okay, this is crazy. Jennifer Lopez wore one of our pieces on the cover of her
album, AKA. One of her stylists paired it with this beautiful red vintage Versace piece.
But they mixed it up [when they did the credits]. I was like, the skirt is mine! Not
Versace!

That was a really big one for me. And actually, something happened with Beyoncé this
year. She wore a dress for an interview, and you could only see the top of her dress,
but the PR company confirmed that it was ours. People were like, "You cannot even
see the dress!" And I was like, "Hey, it's Beyoncé, okay. Let me have my moment. I
don't care if you can only see the top of the dress! Then she wore another one straight
after and it was a full, good picture, so I had my moment then. But still, all three of
those moments left me really in shock.

What does that do for business when celebs wear your stuff?

For business, it's amazing. It has given us a lot of credibility that could have taken a
lot longer to gain. I think that it kind of makes us more desired as a brand. In terms of
numbers, I mean, the Kardashian Effect is very real, so whenever they wear anything
it sells out immediately. Same with Beyoncé, same with JLo. They all have that kind
of effect.

How do you think social media has played a role in your success?

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It has been one of the key factors to building my brand. Without it, it wouldn't have
been possible. It has been key to our growth. We don't post any classic advertising—
we don't do TV ads, we don't do any paid advertising in that way. So it's all quite
organic, and I do think that is truly because of social media. The whole social media
celebrity thing has really made people aware of the brand.

Have you ever DM'ed celebrities to try to get product on them?

I have 100 percent done that so many times. I have done it with so many people and
gotten rejected so many times. And then later they want to wear my things. Yeah, of
course, I did that for years. I remember one of the first times a celebrity wore my things
was on a British TV show, and I was never really aware what people did. But she was
like, "Hey, if you give me this dress, can I wear it?" And I said, "Okay, I'll do that, but
you have to post the picture and tag me in the picture." When I realized that that is
kind of what people did, I just started flooding everyone's inboxes. And tried to send
them stuff.

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12.3 Appendix C: Questionnaire for House of CB customers in-
store

Background information

1. Which gender group do you identify as?

Male:
Female:
Other:
Prefer to not disclose:

2. Which age group do you fall in?

18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Prefer to not disclose:

3. Do you use social media? If no, please skip the next two questions.
Yes:
No:

4. How often do you use social media?

More than 3 times a day:
1 – 2 times a day:
Every other day:
Once a week:
Every other week:
Once a month:

5. Which social media platforms do you use most? Tick as many that apply

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Twitter:
Facebook:
Instagram:
Snapchat:
Other:

6. Which social media platform influences your purchase decision, if any?

Twitter:
Facebook:
Instagram:
Snapchat:
Other:

House Of CB

7. Where did you first hear about House of CB?

Word of mouth:
Walked past the store:
Celebrities:
Search engine (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Bing! Etc):
Social Media:
Celebrity/influencer on social media:
Advertisements:
Magazine/online publications:

8. If social media or Celebrity/influencer on social media was your choice above,

did either of these interest you into making a purchase or follow House of CB?

Yes – To follow:
Yes – Make a purchase:
Yes – To follow AND make a purchase:
No – To follow:

66
No – Make a purchase:
No – To follow AND make a purchase:

9. Do you follow any brands on social media? If yes, please list up to 3.

Yes:
No:

10. If one of your listed brands is not House Of CB, do you follow them on social
media?

Yes:
No:

11. Has one of these celebrities well known to be associated with House of CB
ever influenced you in making a purchase? Celebrities: Kylie Jenner, The
Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.

Yes:
No:
Sometimes:

12. Which option influences your purchase more?

A – Seeing a celebrity or influencer wearing the item

B – Seeing it on the house of CB page with their own models

13. Which 3 words describe House Of CB for you?

14. As a customer of House of CB, how well do they communicate with you on
social media?

Excellent:
Good:

67
Average:
Poor:

15. As a follower of House of CB social media, what do you think of their online
presence?

I love it
I like it
I dislike it
I hate it

16. Have you ever thought of unfollowing/stop making purchases from House of
CB?

Yes:
No:

If yes, why?

17. If you could speak with the owner-manager of House of CB, what would you
tell them?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Small Businesses

18. How do you feel about companies using social media to communicate with
you – the customer?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

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12.4 Appendix D: Questionnaire for online

Background information

1. Which gender group do you identify as?

Male:
Female:
Other:
Prefer to not disclose:

2. Which age group do you fall in?

18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Prefer to not disclose:

3. Do you use social media? If no, please skip the next two questions.

Yes:
No:

4. How often do you use social media?

More than 3 times a day:

1 – 2 times a day:
Every other day:
Once a week:
Every other week:

69
Once a month:

5. Which social media platforms do you use most? Tick as many that apply

Twitter:
Facebook:
Instagram:
Snapchat:
Other:

6. Which social media platform influences your purchase decision, if any?

Twitter:
Facebook:
Instagram:
Snapchat:
Other:

House Of CB

7. Do you know of the brand House of CB?

Yes:
No:
If no, please leave blank on questions regarding House of CB.

8. Where did you first hear about House of CB?

Word of mouth
Walked past the store
Celebrities
Search engine (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Bing! Etc)
Social Media
Celebrity/influencer on social media
Advertisements

70
Magazine/online publications

9. If social media or Celebrity/influencer on social media was your choice above,

did either of these interest you into making a purchase or follow House of CB?

Yes – To follow
Yes – Make a purchase
Yes – To follow AND make a purchase
No – To follow
No – Make a purchase
No – To follow AND make a purchase

10. Do you follow any brands on social media? If yes, please list up to 3.

Yes:
No:

11. If one of your listed brands is not House Of CB, do you follow them on social
media?

Yes:
No:

12. Has one of these celebrities well known to be associated with House of CB
ever influenced you in making a purchase? Celebrities: Kylie Jenner, The
Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.

Yes:
No:
Sometimes:

13. Which option influences your purchase more?

A – Seeing a celebrity or influencer wearing the item

71
B – Seeing it on the house of CB page with their own models

14. Which 3 words describe House Of CB for you?

15. As a customer of House of CB, how well do they communicate with you on
social media?

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor

16. As a follower of House of CB social media, what do you think of their online
presence?

I love it
I like it
I dislike it
I hate it

17. Have you ever thought of unfollowing/stop making purchases from House of
CB?

Yes:
No:

If yes, why?

18. If you could speak with the owner-manager of House of CB, what would you
tell them?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

72
Small Businesses

19. Do you think companies should use social media to communicate with you –
the customer?

Yes:
No:

20. Are you influenced by advertisements on social media?

Yes:
No:

73
12.5 Appendix E: Consent form for questionnaire respondents

Participant Consent Form

Title of Research Project: The use of social media marketing to acquire and
retain customers to brands of small companies

Brief Description of Research Project: The project aims to understand how

a small company – House of CB uses social media marketing to help acquire
customers and retain them. The project will try answer this by evaluating the social
media marketing strategy. For further information you can contact me at the following:

Contact Details:

Name: Shiima Sharif

Telephone: 07702071705
Email: Shiimasharif@gmail.com

Consent Statement
I agree to take part in this research and I am aware that I am free to withdraw at any
point. I understand that the information I provide will be treated in confidence by the
investigator and that my identity will be protected in the publication of any findings.

Name:

Signature:

Date:

Comments:

74
Appendix F: Celebrity posts by House of CB

Figure 22. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Khloe Kardashian wearing House of CB

clothes.

75
Figure 23. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Jennifer Lopez wearing House of CB
clothes.

76
Figure 24. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Jennifer Lopez on a red-carpet event
wearing House of CB clothes.

77
Figure 25. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Kylie Jenner wearing House of CB clothes.

78
Figure 26. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Kim Kardashian wearing House of CB
clothes at the Flagship store.

79
Figure 27. Screenshot of a post of celebrity Beyoncé wearing House of CB clothes.

80
12.6 Appendix G: Case study results – social media postings

Figure 28. Screenshot of a post of a female customer posing in front of the store’s
photo wall with “Girl Boss Gang”.

81
Figure 29. Screenshot of a post of owner-manager, with a little history of the brand
and describing the brand as “For women, by women”.

82
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